The court of appeals affirmed a district court judgment in part, vacated in part, and remanded the action for further proceedings. The court held that a governmental entity or official may receive Noerr-Pennington immunity for the petitioning involved in an eminent domain proceeding. The court held further that the agents of that litigation, namely employees and law firms and lawyers, may benefit from the immunity as well.
Joan Kearney owned a parcel of property in Ramona, California. The Ramona Unified School District (RUSD) initiated condemnation proceedings as to the property. As part of its efforts, RUSD sought to conduct a septic system assessment to determine the number of residential lots the land could support, which in turn would determine the land’s value.
